Chapter 7:

Some time would pass after their loss against the Dark Namekians, they would be picked up by Goku and Vegeta Jr. Ryuko wakes up in a bed at Capsule Corp. The last thing he remembered was battling against the Dark Namekians, only to fall to Leech. Goku Jr sees that his grandson has begun to wake himself up. He makes his way to greet his grandson: "Ah, good. You're awake Ryuko!"

Ryuko still hasn't fully recovered from his injuries against the Dark Namekians as he writhes in pain. "Careful, Ryuko. The four of you seriously took one hell of a beating." Goku Jr says, advising that they rest for now. "Vegeta and I were able to find you all bunched up together below the lookout." Ryuko interrupts Goku Jr to question him: "Below the lookout? But, I remember being on the lookout when we lost. How did we get down from there?"

Goku Jr responds as best he could: "I would if I had the answer Ryuko. Neither myself nor Vegeta were able to take you off the lookout immediately after the battle ended." Ryuko insists to get up, and work through the pain, but Goku Jr tries to set him back down. Ryuko asks another question for his grandpa: "How come all of us haven't healed yet? Didn't we have senzu beans?"

Goku Jr tells him straight forward: "We don't have any senzu beans, so we're having you guys heal naturally. As well as the treatment given to you guys by Oritsu's older sister, Kiki. You have to take it slow, Ryuko."

"Grandpa, I can't afford to take it slow!" Ryuko snaps back at his grandfather. "How can I take it slow when there are monsters like Leech still roaming the planet and could cause chaos at any moment! And you're telling me to take it slow?"

Goku Jr calms his grandson down: "Now, I know you must be frustrated at your first defeat against a foe like this but-"

Ryuko continues to rant: "But what, grandpa? You expect me to wait until I'm healed again to go out? I just can't let the thought of anybody causing havoc while I'm stuck here, being useless!" Ryuko gets up and makes his way out of the room. "I'm going to go train!"

Goku Jr immediately chases after him: "Ryuko, you can't storm off like that! You need to rest a little longer, until you can train again. All you're gonna do is reverse the healing process."

"I don't care if it does, I just want to be strong enough to protect everyone! I want to protect you, grandpa! How am I supposed to live up to that if I don't have enough power to do it!?" Ryuko tells Goku Jr. Goku Jr is left stunned and puts his head down and doesn't respond to Ryuko for a few seconds.

Goku Jr finally speaks again: "You remind me a lot of what Grandma Pan was like when Goku was still alive, Ryuko. She wanted to be as strong as her grandpa in order to protect those she loved and really cared about." Goku Jr would shed a tear: "She realized that she could never live up to Goku and gave up on surpassing him. But you aren't like her, Ryuko. You are completely dedicated to becoming a warrior and you want to protect those around you. All I wanted for you was to have patience and let the healing happen. I understand if you want to train and I won't stop you." Ryuko would also begin to shed tears: "Grandpa…" Ryuko comforts his grandfather and they both embrace each other with a hug.

Goku Jr tells Ryuko: "Vejin will be there undergoing brutal training with Vegeta. I'll let you go ahead, Ryuko." "Okay grandpa." Ryuko goes on towards the gravity chamber. Goku Jr looks through a door window to see Oritsu and Letuce still undergoing treatment by Kiki.

Ryuko arrives at the gravity chamber, where he immediately feels the backlash of 50x gravity, almost immobilizing him. Vejin would be doing one-armed pushups with Vegeta Jr monitoring his every move. "Good. You're adapting to 50x Gravity well. Once you've got that taken care of, we'll get started with 100x." Vegeta Jr remarks to Vejin.

Vegeta Jr looks up to see Ryuko barely able to move within the gravity chamber. Vegeta Jr heads towards the center and shuts off the gravity machine: "Didn't expect you to be up this quick, Ryuko. If I knew you were coming here, I would've kept it off for now. Alright Vejin, you can get your break."

Vejin got back on his feet and grabbed a Hetap. Ryuko heads to Vegeta Jr: "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk with him alone." Ryuko would point to Vejin. This sudden request left Vegeta Jr taken aback that he'd want to see Vejin alone. "Alright, I'll leave you two here. At least someone else can have an eye on him." Vegeta Jr tells himself as he leaves and shuts the door to the gravity chamber.

With the room filled with silence for a minute, Ryuko takes the initiative: "So, Vejin…About what happened up on the lookout-" Vejin looks at Ryuko: "What about what happened?" Ryuko continues his sentence once again: "You had that same aura from back at the tournament…You went into that power." Vejin, raising an eyebrow, still doesn't know where Ryuko is going with this: "Right? I learned to get a grip on some of it, and I managed to take out one of his sons. Now that bastard has locked away that power of mine…"

Ryuko replies: "Don't beat yourself up over it. We're gonna get stronger together. I'm sure there'll be a way around it."

Vejin clenches his fist: "You don't get it, do you… The one time I'm able to have an advantage, it's taken away. The one thing I got a hold of, disappeared." Ryuko didn't know how to reply: "I…uhhh.." Vejin kept going on about his rant: "I have to keep getting stronger…I can't have any weakness. I can't let myself fall behind because of some injuries."

Ryuko, finally having the thought to put his two cents in: "I know what you mean, Vejin… My grandpa wants me to heal, but I just can't afford to… I have to keep getting stronger to protect those I care about, including my grandpa." Vejin scoffs and rolls his eyes: "Tch. Is that supposed to make me feel empathetic?"

Ryuko asks Vejin: "Why do you want to get stronger, Vejin?" Vejin did not expect him to ask this question. He thought he'd just skip over it and go to some other topic. "What do you mean?" Vejin does a light chuckle. "Why do I get stronger? There's plenty of strong warriors out there. If I gotta take out some major threats, I gotta be strong enough to do so." Ryuko shakes this off: "I know that that is not the real reason, Vejin. I'll ask again. Why do you want to get stronger?"

Vejin couldn't find any way to get himself out of this one: "I wanted to grow stronger to protect the woman I loved… She was everything I could've asked for. I actually felt genuine happiness. But, once I got something I cared about, it got taken away soon after. She was killed by Frieza soon after I passed out. She and I promised that I wouldn't forget about her after the day she died, and thankfully I never did after being stuck in space for about 250 years…"

Ryuko was left stunned by this, as he thought Vejin was this cold-hearted Saiyan: "Oh, wow..I-I'm sorry you had to go through that…" Vejin continues on: "She was, and still is, my motivation. After she died, I entered a blind rage that left me uncontrollable. Sorry about that, by the way." Ryuko just shrugs it off: "It's fine…Water under the bridge now." Vejin took a sip of his Hetap: "But, I continue to grow stronger for her. I was too weak to help her against Frieza, and I don't want something like that to happen again."

Seeing that Vejin finished, Ryuko chimes in: "We've all had our losses. Even with this battle, we're going to learn from it, and grow as a team. Despite our differences Vejin, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." After Ryuko says this, he smirks at Vejin. Vejin smirks back before taking another sip of his Hetap: "It's not just the loss that bothers me. My pride was tested by the father. He had me pinned down to a tea. Now that I have that power taken from me, it'll be hard to even get close to his level. Which is exactly why I need to continue training to evolve without it. As I grow stronger naturally, that berserk power will also amplify." Ryuko pats Vejin's back: "Trust me, there's a workaround. Magic doesn't last forever. If we cut it from the source, we'll get that back to you, I promise."

Vejin just ignores the gesture and gets back to continuing his training. He notices something behind Ryuko: "Hm? What's that behind you?" Ryuko, raising an eyebrow, has no clue what Vejin is talking about: "What's behind me?" He checks, but finds nothing. "I don't see anything behind me." Ryuko says. Vejin replies: "Hold on a minute…Turn around." Ryuko asks him again: "What?" Vejin demands it this time: "Turn around. Now." Ryuko does so, and low and behold, it's revealed that Ryuko was actually concealing his tail from underneath his clothing.

Vejin, now completely shocked at this revelation: "You have a tail!?"

Chapter: END